Ted and Maureen Meadley couldn't be happier with their move from a big house in Ardmore to Eagle Ridge Estates, just down the road. The North Saanich gated community, for people 55 and over, was built in 1989 and has 75 strata homes on a 30-hectare parcel of land.

Although the original plans called for 75 separate residences, designer John Bell came along and suggested a different concept: Put three units together in a pod, join them at the garages and have 25 pods. The homes in each pod are set at 45-degree angles to each other, each with a different view - and it's not of the neighbours.

The clever idea created great tracts of parkland for the collective owners. Thanks to Bell's shift in the plans 20 years ago, a community of grateful homeowners are feeling fortunate with their lots in life.

"We became familiar with two or three of the units because of social contacts, and we just loved them," Maureen says.

"I was afraid we might regret letting go of our big house, but like everyone who moves here, we never looked back," Ted says.

Ted, who spent most of his career with B.C. Buildings Corp. and is currently vice-president of the strata council for Eagle Ridge Estates, began designing the renovation of their 20year-old unit when they moved in two years ago.

"I like drawing with an old-fashioned, steam-driven pencil, as opposed to using the computer programs that do most of the design work these days," Ted says.

Their bed sat in the middle of the living room for the first six months while Ted and Maureen worked through the renovations.

The kitchen and bathrooms were the main focus. They also added new decking, linen closets, sliding doors, a fireplace and hardwood floors.

The dishwasher is split into two little drawers for economy of energy, and the Fisher and Paykel fridge from New Zealand has convenient multiple shelf positions and removable components in the freezer.

Although their first impression of having a stainless steel backsplash was that it might look institutional, the brushed and "quilted" finish picks up interesting patterns of light and is attractive.

Ted calls Maureen's upstairs bathroom "the Roman Spa" - with its unusually shaped soaker tub and elegant bowlshaped sink with multiple reflections in the mirrors. Ted designed his main-floor bathroom with a big easily accessible shower.

Current and future mobility issues were one of the factors in several of the design features of the reno. Ted uses crutches after losing a hip to bone cancer 10 years ago. "I can get up the stairs now, but may not be able to down the road," he says.

"So part of moving here was looking towards the future."

Life is changing for the couple, who volunteered for many years at raising puppies for the Canadian Guide Dogs for the Blind Association.

"We had our last dog, Victoria, for 14 years," says Maureen, "she was a breeding female and had 22 puppies. They didn't all qualify, but many did. "

Now that Ted and Maureen spend winters in Arizona, puppy-raising is a thing of the past. "It would be too hot there for the dogs."

Upstairs, Maureen's sewing room/den is used for a variety of projects. Maureen used to sew and weave for people, but now just sews for herself in her restful room with the lovely view.

The artistic space is full of crewel work, embroidery, tapestries from her mother and the work of an aunt who paints acrylic on velvet. An unfinished jacket is sitting on a dressmakers dummy waiting for a "closure solution" to come to Maureen's mind. I thought she was being philosophical about her creative project, but it turns out the practical seamstress was talking about the best way to fasten the jacket. "I don't want to put button holes in the delicate fabric," she says.

Her neighbour Leta Hodge, also a sewing enthusiast and "dog person," describes the identical angled sewing room in her house, as being shaped like "the leg of a dog." (She has Samoyeds in case you are trying to visualize that one.)

In one of her many outdoor projects, Maureen put in a small garden pond and is building an easy-care patio with interesting steps - made with a mould she bought at Lee Valley.

"You buy a product called Quikrete - quicksetting concrete - and then add water, mix and pour into the mould, lift it off after a few minutes and leave to dry for a day or so," she says.

Maureen describes herself as a "hands-on person who has always been like that."

Six generations worth of Ted and Maureen's family pictures, including two daughters and four grandchildren, fill the staircase walls.

"Our wedding picture from 1986 always looked a little too angelic to me," says Maureen, of the classic studio shot of the young couple staring into the top corner of the photo. Those were the days when the couple took a year off work and toured Europe on a motorcycle - camping in 32 countries.

A big black-and-brown cowbird hangs out on a deck chair as the house tour wraps up. "They lay their eggs in other birds' nests, so that other birds raise the chicks," says Ted.

Seems an appropriate guest at Eagle Ridge Estates, where the human inhabitants are acting as good caretakers of the land passing under their stewardship.

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